Virginia Indoor Track and Field Preview - Part TwoQ&A with the Virginia coaching staff

Payton Hazzard

Jan. 16, 2013

What did the sprinters and hurdlers work on during the fall to prepare for the spring?"The biggest thing we worked on was learning how to accelerate properly. A lot of the time was working on technique and learning how to race properly. We also worked a lot on learning how to be a little tougher. The fall is more of a time to work on conditioning the mind as much as the body. It's a time to learn how to push through some thresholds rather than trying to get into ridiculous shape." - Head Coach Bryan Fetzer

What are you looking to see from the men's sprinters and hurdlers?"We are looking to build upon some of the success we had last year. I know some of the guys, Payton Hazzard being one, really surprised some people with their performances. They gained a lot of confidence from that and now their expectation levels are a lot higher. We want to get better every day in every way. That is our philosophy with practice. I expect Payton to have a really good year. He has worked real hard and bought into a different thought process in training. The whole group are in great shape right now and the biggest key is they are all healthy.

One person, who didn't run last year, who is back is Brandon Burton. He has worked really hard all across the board, in the classroom and on the track, to put himself in a position where he can have a pretty big year. Ozzie Bryan is definitely in the best condition he has been since he has gotten to college. We have a couple young sprinters, Scott Clark and Adam Cummings, who have a lot of potential. Hopefully they continue to progress. We are also going to get some help from the football side. We have a couple football players running for us, and hopefully that is something that will become common. We can help them get faster and they can give us a little different feel." - Fetzer

Who among the women's sprinters and hurdlers are you looking to have a strong season?"We are very small in that group. When I say sprints, we take that group all the way up to the 800 in our program. We might not have a lot in numbers, but the quality is there. Jordan Lavender established herself as someone who can become one of the better 400 meter runners in the country. She has worked really hard and improved on a lot of strength areas. Danielle Williams probably had the best fall of any sprinters I have ever coached in my 18 years of coaching. From the standpoint of really understanding the event and getting a lot stronger and improving her power numbers, she has improved. Another thing with the sprinters is we are the healthiest we have been in years at this point of the season." - Fetzer